Ahmose-Nefertari [61715]

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http://fabpedigree.com/s039/f001098.htm


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmose-Nefertari


Ahmose-Nefertari of Ancient Egypt was the royal sister and the great royal wife of pharaoh , Ahmose I . Upon the death of Ahmose I, their heir, Kamose , became pharaoh, but was killed in war. Ahmose-Nefertari then became the regent for another son and ruled until he could attain the age to ascend the throne as Amenhotep I . During her regency she was recognized as a formidable warrior , and at her burial she was given special honors for her accomplishments in war. After her death, she was worshiped as a deity in the funerary cult of Thebes.
Her name appears on many monuments, from Saï to Tura . She is known still to have been alive during the first year of the reign of her grandson, Thutmose I . Thus, she apparently outlived her son, Amenhotep I, who reigned over Egypt for nearly twenty-one years after her regency.

Founders of the eighteenth dynasty of Egypt

For more details on this topic, see Family tree of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_tree_of_the_Eighteenth_dynasty_of_Egypt>.

Some Egyptologists assert that Queen Ahhotep I was the founder of the eighteenth dynasty, establishing a matrilineal succession that would extend through the dynasty and end only with her daughter Queen Ahmose-Nefertari, because, after the death of her husband, Seqenenre Tao II , Ahhotep enabled two of her sons, Kamose and Ahmose I, to become pharaohs and to unite Egypt following the Hyksos occupation and that, furthermore, between their reigns Ahhotep ruled the country as regent, maintaining the effort to drive out these foreigners and to restore the native dynasties.

Queen Ahhotep's husband had initiated the overthrow of the Hyksos and may have died in battle. Her son, Kamose, made battle with them and died in the war as well. She then became regent and a warrior queen, continuing the battle. When Ahhotep's son, Ahmose I, came of age and ruled as pharaoh, he finally drove the Hyksos out of Egypt. This second son of hers, Ahmose I, became the first king of the eighteenth dynasty, a pharaoh ruling over the reunited country. His wife and sister, Queen Ahmose-Nefertari, had the following royal children, Amenhotep I , Mutnofret , and Ahmose-Meritamon , two of whom would become the next king and queen of Egypt.

Titles

Queen Ahmose-Nefertari held many titles, among them, she held the office of Second Prophet of Amun at the Karnak temple. Records from a later era indicate that in this position she would have been responsible for all temple properties, administration of estates, workshops, treasuries and all the associated administration staff. Nefertari later exchanged this post with her husband and received in exchange land and staff to set up a college of female temple singers and musicians. These women may have led celibate lives as they were all buried together in the Theban necropolis. At this time, she also became the first living, royal woman known to be entitled, God's Wife of Amun , a title dating from the Middle Kingdom .[1] Her mother, Ahhotep I , royal wife of Seqenenre Tao II and the mother of Ahmose I as well, had held the title of God's Wife of Amun first; but the title only has been found on her coffin however, and therefore, some Egyptologists assert that she may not have held the office and exercised its duties. In that case, those scholars speculate that the title may have been given to Ahhotep posthumously.

The villagers of Deir el-Medina held Amenhotep I and his mother Queen Ahmose Nefertari in high regard over many generations. When Amenhotep died he became the center of a village funerary cult, worshiped as "Amenhotep of the Town". When the Queen died she also was deified and became "Mistress of the Sky" and "Lady of the West".[2]

God's Wife of Amun

The office of God's Wife of Amun had existed in earlier dynasties, but previously, the holder of the title was not a woman of the royal line as the cult was not the dominant one in the changing religious traditions of the culture. Once the cult became dominant, and the temple in which the pharaoh officiated, it became a hereditary title and role for the royal women who served as the highest ranking priestess in the administration of the most powerful temple of the country, passing from one generation to another. The holder of this office, be it wife or daughter, was a close adviser who participated in daily contact with the pharaoh during ceremonies and rites.

Religion and government were interwoven inexorably in Ancient Egypt. For that reason, some scholars describe the administration of the temple of Amun as the virtual rulers of the country while Thebes was the capital of Egypt. Later in this same dynasty, one pharaoh, Akhenaten , moved the capital to another city to escape their influence, adopting the primary solar deity worshiped at the new capital instead of Amun, and establishing his own administrators and policies, but as soon as he died, the priests of Amun regained their control of the government, the location of the capital, and the dominance of their deity.

References

1. ^ "The Great Goddesses of Egypt", Barbara S. Lesko, p. 246, University of Oklahoma Press, 1999, ISBN 0806132027
2. ^ Tyldesley, Joyce (1996). "Hatchespsut: The Female Pharaoh", p62, Viking, ISBN 0-670-85976-1 .

Ahmose-Nefertari married Ahmose I 1st PHARAOH of 18th Dynasty [61697] [MRIN: 551617764], son of Seqenenre Tao II King) of THEBES [61707] and Ahhotep I Queen of EGYPT [61698]. (Ahmose I 1st PHARAOH of 18th Dynasty [61697] was born about 1555 B.C, died in 1525 B.C. and was buried in Mummy found in Deir el-Bahri cache, but was likely originally buried in Abydos.)